Death Valley’s Footprints

[ProCaliberTraveler]

Earlier this month my parents and I went on a ranger-led hike into a closed area in Death Valley National Park where there are lots of fossilized animal footprints, plants, raindrops, and other things, all of which are found on nearly vertical walls of sedimentary rock.

Death Valley at one point in time was at the bottom of an ocean. At another point of time, this area was a lush, green area. Considering how many footprints there are of animals such as horses, camels, big cats, canines, and birds as well as fossilized plants such as grasses and reeds, the theory is that this part of the park was some sort of watering hole.

A big cat

Horse prints

Gomphothere prints, similar to an elephant

Canine prints

 

[AlanLichty]

These are pretty cool - sounds like a ranger led tour will give you a chance to see aspects of the park that are well off the thoroughly beaten paths the tourons tend to visit. Neat to see these footprints and try to imagine what the place was like when they were left.

 

[ProCaliberTraveler]

These are pretty cool - sounds like a ranger led tour will give you a chance to see aspects of the park that are well off the thoroughly beaten paths the tourons tend to visit. Neat to see these footprints and try to imagine what the place was like when they were left.

The trailhead is unmarked in any way and it’s miles past a popular tourist spot. There’s a rough trail leading towards the canyon, but it’s unmaintained. As you get closer to the area in question, there’s a wooden sign warning people of a jail sentence or large fine for trespassing, complete with a camera.

 

[JimFox]

Wow, what a unique place you got to go. That sounds like one worthwhile ranger led tour.

I like what you captured here. It makes me think that for a subtle as some of them are, they could be in other parts of the park and you wouldn't even know what you were looking at.

 

[Jameel Hyder]

Interesting area to explore. The ground textures are so different in each of the images.